Has anyone on list experimented with polishing wax on resin
"enamels"? I’ve tried everything from clear polish to spray laqures
and the finish always comes out looking cheap instead of lush. also
the lustre of the finishes tend to fade with time. Can you “oil” epoxy
resins? to get a more natural shine?

I think that you may be able to Zam buff the surface. There are two
kinds that Rio carries or did, and I think that one was bluffable.
You would need a clean buff and also watch the speed because of heat
build up. I myself like a matt finish. Every thing does not need to
be shiny.

Epoxy resin doesn’t work well with conventional metal polishing
compounds, but sandpaper does. Try 600 grit Wet/Dry sandpaper as
your final polish. Start with 80 grit and work your way down to 600.
Always work wet, not dry. The 3M Micro Finishing Film is outstanding
and rugged stuff. This is what I use now. Also, make sure that you
are sanding in a circular motion on a very flat surface. Dupont
makes Corian for kitchen counters. I tell my students to bug a
kitchen design store for the sink cutouts. They will give them to you
for free.

Some of the resins like Cernit, dry with a a shiny look to them
already. I use Devcon two part epoxy and mix my pigments directly.
This allows me to control translucency or more opaque color. The
epoxy allows me to bind in other materials like tea, sand or spices.
When the final “polish” has been achieved, I spray with Matt Krylon.
It seals the epoxy from the elements and pops the color.

Tip here in spray applications. I test the spray first to make sure
that nothing is clogged. Move the can while spraying in a back and
forth motion of about 4 cm. This will give you an even application of
your lacquer.

Have you ever worked with Durenamels? If so, what made you choose
Devcon over Durenamel also what “grade” are you using, 330? I think
Rio stopped carrying the Durenamels becasue regular epoxy was selling
better, but I thought the Durenamels might be “stronger” or harder
than the Devcon…please correct this assumption if its wrong and if
possible list differences you noticed between the two.

With the Krylon, do you worry that it will rub off later and your
customer may be displeased about that?

I’ll experiment with wet sanding and circular motion. Thank you for
the tips.

I’m coming in a bit late to this discussion - still reassembling my
life after moving to a new house. I’ve recently done quite a few
pieces with Durenamel and am pretty happy with the results. I ground
the enamels flat, as recommended, by wet-sanding with various grades
of sandpaper on finishing sticks. I think I ended up at about 600
grit, which was a nice satin finish. I did find that patience was
rewarded during this step, and that it was good not to start out
with anything coarser than about 120 grit - deeper scratches were
difficult to remove.

Even though the instructions recommended Fabulustre, I didn’t find
that it worked very well. I got the best finish with tripoli and
then rouge, used as normal for silver. The rouge left some streaks
on the resin, but they were easily rubbed off and polished away with
a Sunshine cloth.

One of the things I found really nice about the Durenamel was that
the bubbles that occured when I overheated one piece could be ground
out, refilled, and “fired” again. The repairs were undetectable. I’m
disappointed that Rio stopped carrying this product; it’s easy to
use, makes nice, bright colors and durable finishes, and is the
closest I’ve seen to “real” enamel one can do without a kiln. I hope
they’ll reconsider and continue to stock this product again in the
near future. (Not affiliated with any of the aforementioned - just
delighted with a new medium!)